Obama wants to ‘trust but verify’ in Syria

President Obama says Syria saying it would consider giving international control to its chemical arsenal is a good step, but it doesn’t coincide with the country’s past actions. NBC’s Savannah Guthrie reports.

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This content comes from Closed Captioning that was broadcast along with this program.

>>>told nbc news he hasn't decided what action to take in
syria
if
congress
votes no to a
military strike
. even though the campaign to get a yes vote continues, all day today there was a steady stream of lawmakers in and out of the
white house
. late today it was a steady stream of oh journalists as the president granted interviews to six networks including this one. it was something secretary of state
john kerry
said today almost offhandedly that received a lot of attention -- the idea that
syria
might agree to hand over control of its
chemical weapons
to other nations. the reaction to that and the president's own words late today leave the impression that suddenly a
military strike
is now less certain.
savannah guthrie
has emerged from her conversation with the president in the
white house
and starts us off from there tonight. savannah, good evening.

>> reporter: good evening, brian. the president was remarkably candid with me saying he's sure he has the votes in
congress
to approve the military strikes. he was open yet cautious about the idea, the latest overture from russia that perhaps the chemical arsenal could be controlled by international inspectors. are you skeptical? does it seem like a stalling tactic?

>>i think a famous
american president
once said "trust but verify." you have to take it with a grain of salt initially. but between the statements that we saw from the russians, the statement today from the syrians, this represents a potentially positive development. my preference consistently has been a diplomatic resolution to this problem.

>> reporter: would you act without
congress
? the answer could be yes, no, or i haven't decided.

>>i think it's fair to say that i haven't decided. i am taking this vote in
congress
and what the
american people
are saying very seriously. because if you ask somebody, you know, i read polls like everybody else. if you ask somebody, if you ask michelle do we want to be involved in another war, the answer is no. so i reognize how important that debate is. it is my belief that for me, the president, to act without consensus in a situation where there is not a direct imminent threat to the homeland or interests around the world that that's not the kind of precedent that i want to set. we are going to spend this week talking to members of
congress
, answering their questions. i'm going to speak to the
american people
tomorrow night directly. i will evaluate after that whether or not we feel strongly enough about this that we are willing to move forward.

>> reporter: are you uh confident you're going to get the votes?

>>i wouldn't say i'm confident. i'm confident that the members of
congress
are taking this issue very seriously, and they are doing their homework. i appreciate that.

>> reporter: you have said these strikes, if they take place, will be limited. my question to you is how could you possibly know that? if we strike and
assad
retaliates or
iran
does or hezbollah, they strike u.s. interests or even strike
u.s. citizens
at home, what then? you may want limited action, but can you really promise it?

>>well, look. nothing is 100% guaranteed in life. but i think it's fair to say that our military is outstanding. our intelligence is outstanding. we have shown ourselves capable of taking precision strikes on
military installations
in ways that would degrade
assad
's capabilities to deliver
chemical weapons
but that would not lead to escalation.

>> reporter: assad
had a message today when asked if he would retaliate. he said, expect everything. members of
congress
don't think there is a strategy for day two, three, four.

>>that's not the case. first of all,
syria
doesn't have significant capabilities to retaliate against us.
iran
does, but
iran
is not going to risk a war with the
united states
over this. particularly given that our oh goal is to make sure that
chemical weapons
aren't used on children. it is unlikely we would see the kinds of retaliation that would have a significant impact on oh u.s. interests in the region.

>> reporter: today secretary of state kerry said the strikes would be unbelievably small. what does that mean? are we talking a pinpediatririck, a punch in the gut?

>>our military is the greatest the world has ever known. when we take limited strikes it has an impact on a country like
syria
that does not have a tremendous military capability. they have a tremendous military capability relative to sieve civiliasieve l civilians, relative to children being gassed. they don't have a military that matches up with ours in any kind of way.

>> reporter: a senior official told me late today it was
vladimir putin
who first raised this idea of international inspectors perhaps controlling
syria
's chemical arsenal. that's an idea that if it ultimately doesn't go anywhere, at least, brian, it's vigorously being pursued tonight.

>>savannah guthrie
starting us off after her conversation with the president tonight. thanks for that.